


Just Like His Father

by LostInThought16



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Fluff, Irondad, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Tony Stark Lives, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-07-19 20:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19980283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostInThought16/pseuds/LostInThought16
Summary: Tony Stark is just like his father.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for the last week, so I decided to make an account, write it out, and post it. Shameless fluff because I need it after Endgame.

The silence on the other end of the phone line overwhelmed Tony. He didn’t know what to do. It was his first year at MIT, and he had royally screwed up. Sure, he was a genius when it came to academics, theory, and design, but when it came to common sense, he had a lot to learn. He had been caught with a beer in his hand at a party. For other students, this wouldn’t have been a problem. Nobody really cared all that much if the underage students had a little bit of harmless fun on the weekends. Any other student would’ve had the beer taken from his hand, and that would’ve been the end of it.

But he was Tony Stark, the son of a billionaire whose name appeared frequently in magazines and newspapers. Apparently, some university security officer had a thing about the rich and famous and the free passes they tended to get when they screwed up, so now Tony was about to be reported to the police for underage drinking. He had already tried gently (well, gently for Tony Stark) pointing out that dozens of others at the party who were also underage had also been drinking, but the security officer was unmoved by this reasoning.

So here he was, calling his father and begging for forgiveness. Begging for pulled strings, even though it humiliated him to have to do so. “Dad, I’m sorry,” he ground out, hating the way the words sounded as they slipped from his tongue.

He knew he was screwed by the sound of the sigh on the other end of the phone. That sigh meant that Howard Stark was not impressed with the situation, and he wasn’t particularly moved to try to help. “ _I’m tired of fixing your problems,_ ” Howard dismissed. “ _You got yourself into this mess; you’ll get yourself out of it._ ” And just like that, Tony was alone on the phone line once again. He had no idea what to do from here.

-

Tony sat it his basement staring at the screen in front of him. He had really meant to make some meaningful progress on the improvements to Peter’s suit that he swore would be finished by the end of the weekend, but he found himself unable to concentrate on the task at hand. Unlike previous years, he could very specifically identify the cause of his distraction at this moment. Unlike the times years ago when his mind had whirred away without a specific cause, he knew exactly where his focus had wandered away to today.

It was the sound of his daughter’s laughter. He would always be drawn to Morgan’s infectious giggles. Of all the things he could have imagined that would wake him up and remind him that the world was a beautiful place, he never would have predicted it would be a child. The subject of children was a complicated one in his mind. As much as he nagged Pepper about wanting a child years ago, he could never suppress the voice in the back of his mind that said that he was far too much like his father to be a responsible parent. The entire time Pepper had been pregnant, he’d been petrified that he’d find himself sneaking off to his workshop to avoid his own child just like Howard had. And yet, here he was, unable to concentrate on the hologram in front of him because the little girl with his eyes and Pepper’s attitude was giggling in the kitchen.

The giggling soon moved from the kitchen to the stairs. He looked up from his work to see his daughter scurry down the stairs before running across the basement to hide behind his legs. “Daddy, help me,” she pleaded, her voice sounding desperate, but her eyes reflecting pure joy.

“Help you with what?” he asked.

He had his answer when his eyes flicked to the top of the stairs where he found Peter Parker descending into the basement with a downright predatory expression on his face. “Save me from Peter!” Morgan squealed, voice cracking as she clutched tightly to her father’s pant leg. “He’s going to tickle me!”

Tony did all he could to suppress a chuckle at his daughter’s distress. To hear her tell it, she was on the brink of death. A warmth spread through his chest as he allowed himself a second to consider that this was so vastly different from his own childhood. His daughter was completely comfortable with interrupting him when he was busy because she was playing and wanted to draw him in. The thought brought him joy that was difficult for him to contain.

Nonetheless, he did all he could to keep the smirk off of his face and glance down at her with the most disinterested expression he could muster, eyebrows raising in mock derision. “ _I’m tired of fixing your problems,_ ” he said, his tone sounding bored but the sparkle in his eyes giving him away. “ _You got yourself into this mess; you’ll get yourself out of it._ ” With a gentle tug to remove her hands from his pant leg, he stepped away from his squealing and giggling daughter just as Peter bounded down the stairs.

“Gotcha, little munchkin,” Peter exclaimed triumphantly as he snatched Morgan off of the floor and onto his hip, already goosing her sides as he set her on his hip. Her shrieks and laughter bounced off the walls as Tony ascended the steps. He couldn’t imagine a more beautiful sound.

Once he had reached the top of the stairs, Tony stepped into the kitchen and set to work preparing lunch. This was exactly what he had worked for. When he had contemplated the notion of time travel and crafted a suit that would withstand the force of all the infinity stones at once, this is what he’d been after. Though world peace and billions of lives restored had a nice ring to it, there was something magical about the simplicity of preparing grilled cheese sandwiches for the little girl who was his own flesh and blood and the teenage boy who might as well be. This is exactly where he had always wanted to be, even if he hadn’t known it.

It wasn’t long before his practiced hands had fixed two plates complete with grilled cheese sandwiches and sliced pears. The pears were a little under ripe, but neither Peter nor Morgan would mind. By Tony’s mind, it was perfect. He walked to the top of the stairs and glanced down toward his workshop. Normally, he wouldn’t allow Morgan to be down there without him, but he knew Peter would keep her out of trouble. “Chow time!” he shouted down the stairs after he’d gotten his fill of watching Morgan point out the newest gadgets to Peter. He stepped away from the stairwell without checking to see if they were coming up.

It took a few minutes, but eventually Peter climbed up the stairs with a beaming Morgan riding on his back. When he neared the kitchen table, he set her down on the finished wood floor. She glanced up and noticed her father carrying two plates over to the kitchen table, so she bounced excitedly toward her usual seat. In response, Tony stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow at his daughter. “What exactly do you think you’re doing, little miss?” he asked, setting the two plates on the counter behind him.

An inexperienced observer would have guessed that Morgan Stark had no idea what her father was alluding to, but Tony caught the flicker of recognition in her eyes. “You know better,” he confirmed. “We wash our hands before we eat in this house.”

The beginnings of a pout formed on Morgan’s lips, but before she had the chance to be too upset, Peter was stepping up behind her and lifting her onto the step stool that lingered in front of the kitchen sink for moments exactly like this one. Within minutes, both Morgan and Peter had washed their hands and were making their way back toward the kitchen table.

As they approached the table, Tony set their plates down at their respective places. “Grilled cheese with the crusts cut off for Maguna, and crusts on for the spider freak,” he explained.

Morgan halted her attempt at scampering into her chair. “Daddy, don’t talk to Peter like that!” she exclaimed, voice full of indignation.

Tony’s jaw fell open. “I just slaved over a hot stove to make you lunch, and that’s the thanks I get?” he said. His eyes flicked briefly toward Peter before adding: “And on top of that, he was torturing you not 10 minutes ago, but somehow you’re on his side.”

Morgan lifted her chin in defiance, completely unphased by her father’s appeals. “And you left me when he attacked,” she countered.

Tony rolled his eyes. “You really are your mother’s child,” he grumbled. “No matter how many nice things I do for you, you only remember the things I did that made you mad.”

“Freak isn’t a nice name,” Morgan continued her argument. “You shouldn’t call people mean names.”

“That’s where she’s like her mom,” Peter interjected. “She’s actually nice to other people.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed and he was about to respond to Peter’s jab, but he was cut off by the aforementioned woman entering the room. “He’s right, she most definitely gets that trait from her mother,” Pepper agreed. “Nice to see you, Pete,” she said, squeezing his shoulder affectionately.

“You too Ms. Potts,” he automatically responded, but his cheeks pinked at the lowered chin and raised eyebrow he got in response. “Um, Pep, I mean, um, you too, Pepper,” he stammered out before blushing even more at Pepper’s small chuckle.

After deciding that she’d teased the poor kid enough, she stepped around the table and bent down to press a kiss to the top of her daughter’s head. “Nice to see you as well, Miss Morgan.” She stood up and took the open seat at the table between Tony and Morgan.

"Where’s my kiss?” Tony all but whined. “Does nobody around here love me anymore?”

Pepper rolled her eyes at her husband’s dramatics, but Morgan was out of her seat in seconds. Though she could go toe to toe with her father in an exchange of sassy retorts, her innocence and tender heart usually won out eventually. “I love you, Daddy,” she said softly as she scrambled up onto his lap so that she could place a kiss on his cheek.

Tony flipped her around to sit sideways across his lap before kissing the crown of her head, inhaling the scent of her children’s shampoo as he did so. It smelled like lavender and coconut and home. “I love you 3000,” he replied softly. He allowed himself one more deep inhale of her soft hair before lifting her off of his lap and setting her on the floor. “Now go eat the lunch I worked so hard to make you before it gets cold.” He sent her back to her seat with a gentle caress of her back and a wink.

He watched intently as she climbed back into her chair. She was impatient like he was, and he was always a little worried she would tip the chair in her haste to take her seat. Once he was satisfied that she wouldn’t take a spill onto the floor, he chanced a glance around the table. Peter was smiling brightly as he always did when he watched Tony and Morgan’s tender moments. It warmed Tony’s heart to see Peter so content and carefree.

After returning Peter’s smile, his eyes turned toward Pepper. She was smiling too, and her eyes sparkled in a way that they never did before Morgan came along. It had taken quite a bit of convincing to make her believe that having a child was a good idea, but she’d never once regretted that decision since the very first moment she held a crying Morgan to her chest minutes after her birth. Tony never failed to remind Pepper how he’d been right and she’d been wrong about the merits of having a child. It was one of the very few things she’d allow him to gloat about without argument.

Tony felt Pepper’s hand grasp his softly under the table. It was a simple gesture, but she was Pepper and he was Tony, so he knew exactly what it meant. He squeezed her hand and gave her one last small smile before turning back to watch his daughter eat and tell Peter about her plans for the afternoon. The world he lived in now was vastly different from the one of his youth, and he was entirely okay with that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, folks! I'm back 2 months later with another part to this story. My apologies for the long wait. Life is crazy and busy sometimes. Anyway, here's the next part. In this part, Morgan is 16 years old.

Tony jumped at the sound of the landline in his dorm room ringing. He hardly ever received phone calls. “Stark,” he answered curtly. He was never one for pleasantries.

“Will you be coming home for Christmas this year?” Howard Stark was also not in the habit of abiding small talk.

Tony paused. “Where will mom be?”

“Italy,” Howard remarked simply. “And no, you can’t go with her.”

Tony nodded despite knowing that his father wouldn’t be able to see it. “I’ll stay in Boston for Christmas.” Tony heard the phone click within seconds.

It was another month before Tony had a reason to call Howard. Someone from the university had reached out to him to ask about a research grant that Stark Industries was funding, and Tony hadn’t known anything about it. As much as he disliked conversations with his father, he figured this one was necessary. They were 5 minutes into the conversation when Howard casually mentioned his Christmas plans. Plans that included Maria Stark. “Mom’s going to be home for Christmas?” Tony asked, hating the way he could hear the hopefulness in his own voice.

“Yes, she is,” Howard replied, tone bored. “I’m sure she’ll send you a card.”

Tony paused. “I was thinking I could come home.”

“I asked you if you wanted to come home. You said no.”

“But I-” Howard was already interrupting him.

“ _I gave you a choice, and you made it. You don’t get to change your mind now. Grow up, and own your decisions._ Now, could you please give me the mailing address for the contact person at the university?”

Tony did his best to swallow back the burning in his throat as he clumsily shuffled through papers on his desk to find the requested information.

-

Tony couldn’t help but smile at the sight that greeted him when he entered the living room. Morgan was curled up on the couch with a tablet in her lap, brow furrowed as she considered the screen in front of her. The coffee table was covered with papers and models. Morgan was on her spring break. Though most high schoolers chose to savor this time as a prime opportunity to watch tv and sleep the days away, Morgan was the odd kid who wanted to spend the week working on projects that she didn’t have time for when school was in session. Tony and Pepper fully supported these pursuits. They were so proud of their daughter’s intellectual curiosity. Tony particularly related to her willingness to work round the clock on her interests.

Nevertheless, he knew he needed to step in now. As proud as he was that she was working on technology that was too advanced for most college students, she had been working since 6:00 am, and it was now 2:00 am the next day. Much to Pepper’s chagrin, Morgan had inherited Tony’s tendency to get excited about an idea and then work for days at a time with hardly any food and sleep. Tony was almost tempted to allow her to work until she fell asleep on her own, but he wasn’t prepared to face Pepper’s wrath if he did that.

He took a deep breath before crossing the room to go pull his daughter out of her reverie. He knew how he would respond if Pepper tried to coax him to go to sleep, so he didn’t have much hope that she’d go willingly. He came to stand beside her and stroked a gentle hand across her shoulder. “Come on, kid, time for some shut eye.”

Her eye roll was predictable. Whereas Peter always liked that particular pet name, even now that he was pushing 30, Morgan tended to bristle at the reminder that she wasn’t fully grown yet. She never specifically addressed it, but the eye rolls and huffs were enough to communicate her displeasure. Still, Tony couldn’t stop himself from saying it.

“Not tired,” came her curt reply.

“That’s funny because I don’t remember asking you if you were tired.” Tony had already begun to straighten up the papers, and he was now pulling the tablet from her grasp while she tried to wrestle it back from his hands. “What I recall saying was that it’s time to sleep. So come on.” He had pulled the tablet completely free from her grip, so he began walking down the hall toward her room, knowing she’d follow to get her tablet back.

“Daaaadddd,” Morgan whined as she crossed the threshold into her bedroom. For someone who insisted that she wasn’t a kid, she could sure pout like one.

Tony stepped into the far corner of her bedroom and hid the tablet behind his back. “Pajamas and teeth brushed, and then we’ll talk.”

She eyed him skeptically. Realistically, she knew it wasn’t wise to give into his demand without argument. Her father was a master manipulator, and she really couldn’t afford to lose any ground by ceding the point. Nonetheless, 20 hours of work had caught up to her, and she didn’t have the energy to argue this specific point. Within 10 minutes, she was emerging from the bathroom in her favorite cozy pajamas after having brushed her teeth.

She narrowed her eyes when she turned to look at her father. His hands were empty, but her tablet was nowhere in sight. “Where’s my tablet?” she asked, crossing her arms and leaning against the bathroom door.

“I’ll make you a deal,” he responded, ignoring her question completely.

Alarm bells went off in her head. She knew she should press for an answer. She knew any deal her father was offering her probably wasn’t a good one. Nevertheless, her exhaustion crept up on her once again, and against her better judgment she played along. “What’s the deal?”

Tony smiled as he pushed himself off the wall and made his way toward Morgan’s bed. Yep, he was definitely up to no good. “Get in bed, close your eyes, and lie face down with the lights off for 10 minutes. No talking and no accessing FRIDAY. If you can do that without falling asleep, you can get out of bed and get back to work. If you fall asleep, though, you’re in bed sleeping until at least 9:00 am.”

Morgan tilted her head thoughtfully. She had to figure out what his game plan was so she could negotiate the terms. As best as she could tell, he seemed to be banking on her falling asleep once she laid down and closed her eyes. To be fair, he might be right. As much as she hated to admit it, she could feel the exhaustion washing over her now that she had been pulled away from her work. Still, she felt like maybe she could push through for 10 minutes. At this point, it was worth a shot. She didn’t have the energy to contemplate how she was going to get her tablet back without agreeing to his deal. “Fine,” she acquiesced.

Tony nodded. “Hop in, kid,” he said as he pulled the covers back. He couldn’t stop his smirk when she rolled her eyes and huffed once again at the nickname.

Once Morgan had settled herself into bed with her face buried in her pillow, Tony sat down beside her on the edge of the bed. “Lights, FRI, and let us know when 10 minutes has passed,” he instructed softly.

“Of course, boss,” came the quiet reply.

As soon as the lights cut off, Tony placed his hand in the center of Morgan’s back. She relaxed into the touch, humming in contentment despite her annoyance with the current situation. When Tony’s hand began to gently stroke across her back, though, Morgan stiffened. “Dad, no. That’s cheating.” She was already moving to turn over onto her back, but her father’s firm hand on her shoulder stopped her.

“No, this is not cheating. I never said I’d leave you alone. And you can’t flip over. Face down was one of the terms of the agreement.” Morgan growled. She had known from the beginning that her father was probably stacking the deck against her in some way, but she hadn’t thought he’d play this dirty.

Morgan had always loved back rubs. She especially loved back rubs from her father. He was so good at relaxing her with gentle strokes across her back that she tended to fall asleep when he did it. It had started when she was an infant. When it was his turn to care for her when she woke up crying in the night, he’d sit down in the rocking chair, cradle her to his chest, and rub her tiny back until she fell asleep. The trend continued when she was a small child who sometimes had nightmares after watching movies her mother had told her not to watch. Tony would sit on Morgan’s bed with her on his lap, tell her a silly story to get her laughing and take her mind off of the dream, and then he’d settle her in bed and caress her back until she drifted back off.

Now that she was older, Tony didn’t find himself lulling his daughter to sleep nearly as often as he used to. Occasionally, he’d wind up in Morgan’s room late at night talking to her about everything and nothing. On those nights, he always finished the conversation by tucking her into bed and rubbing her back until she nodded off. The fact that she didn’t complain that he was babying her told him she really enjoyed those moments.

But at this moment, she decidedly was not enjoying it. He had taken one of her favorite things and weaponized it. Okay, maybe “weaponized” was a bit of a dramatic take on “my dad is trying to get me to sleep because I’m bordering on delirious,” but she was a Stark, so she was allowed to be a bit dramatic. “Dad,” she bit out, voice somewhere between a groan and a growl, “I’m serious. You can’t do this. This has to be some sort of child abuse.”

Tony was unable to suppress a startled laugh. “Really, Madam Secretary? Child abuse? You think Child Protective Services is coming for every dad who gives his kid a back rub?”

“An _abusive_ back rub,” she countered, and the words sounded sleepily slurred even to her ears. Crap. She was losing this battle. “You’re playing dirty.”

“ _I gave you a choice, and you made it_.” Tony had now begun to use the pads of his thumbs to gently work on a tense spot he found in Morgan’s right shoulder. “ _You don’t get to change your mind now. Grow up, and own your decisions._ ” Okay, he was being a little over the top now, but so was his daughter, so this was acceptable. So what if he was stooping to the level of a teenage girl? “And I recall that another one of the terms of this agreement was that you weren’t allowed to talk. So FRIDAY, please reset the 10 minutes, and don’t start the time until my dear offspring shuts her trap.”

“You’re the worst,” Morgan muttered before falling silent. She could say that the reason she finally stopped talking was so FRIDAY would start timing, but if she was being honest she was also rapidly losing the energy to hold a conversation. Sometimes it was just annoying how well her dad knew her.

Tony continued to rub slow, firm, soothing circles on his daughter’s back, and within 2 minutes her breathing evened out. Despite realizing she was asleep, Tony continued to run his palm across her back for another few minutes. He told himself that it was definitely because he wanted to make sure she was really asleep and not at all because she was getting older and he didn’t know how many more times he’d get to put his little girl to bed, so maybe he wanted to drag this moment out a bit. No. That definitely wasn’t it at all.

Reluctantly, Tony stood up from Morgan’s bedside and crossed the room to retrieve her tablet from where he’d hidden it in her bookshelf. He crossed back to her bedside and smiled at the sight of his sleeping daughter. Moments like these were the ones when she looked the youngest. Though he was proud of her maturity, it warmed his heart to see her like this: innocent, content, pure. He pressed a gentle kiss to her temple. “Good night, honey,” he whispered. With one last glance back at the sleeping girl in the bed, Tony left the room, shutting the door softly behind him as he exited.

When he arrived back in the living room, he was surprised to find Pepper sitting on the couch. “What are you doing up?” he asked as he sat down next to her.

She smiled. “I had to make sure all the crazy people in this house who make a habit of pulling all-nighters actually went to bed.” Tony didn’t even bother to act affronted at her gentle jab. “So how did you manage to get your ornery daughter to bed?”

Tony raised his eyebrows and pointed an accusing finger at his wife as he spoke. “I got _your_ stubborn child to sleep by doing what I do best: negotiating.”

“Should I ask FRIDAY to pull up footage from all the meetings throughout the years that prove that your negotiation skills leave something to be desired?” Tony opened his mouth to argue, but stopped when Pepper held up a hand in his face. “Don’t even bother arguing. You know I’m right.”

If he couldn’t argue, he could at least be cheeky. “Yes, dear,” Tony crooned with exaggerated deference.

Pepper rolled her eyes at the theatrics, but wisely chose to drop that point. “So what exactly did you do to get her to go to bed? Seriously. I want to know because I have firsthand experience with multiple Starks who routinely go on strikes against self-preservation in the name of technology and research. Getting them to sleep is not an easy feat.”

“I made her a deal. I told her if she could lay down for 10 minutes without falling asleep then she could stay up as long as she wanted.”

“She actually fell asleep? I would’ve figured her Stark stubborn streak would’ve kept her awake.”

Tony scoffed. “Her inner Potts was going pretty strong, so I had to pull out the big guns.” Pepper raised her eyebrows, the question implicit. “I rubbed her back.”

Pepper couldn’t help but chuckle. “Tony Stark, you play dirty!”

The boyish grin that overtook his face was a familiar sight to Pepper. “I most certainly do,” he replied, voice dropping in pitch as he leaned in for a kiss.

Pepper returned his kiss, but it was far more chaste than he had been angling for. “Not going to work, Tony,” she chided good-naturedly.

“Hmmm?” he questioned while pressing a line of kisses into her collarbone.

“I’m not going to let you continue to put off going to sleep. I meant what I said: everyone in this house is going to sleep.” The big, pleading eyes Tony pulled were comical. “Don’t even try. Morgan does that look way better than you do, and even she can’t break me. Unlike her father who gives into her every whim as soon as she pouts.”

“False,” Tony countered as he followed Pepper who was already making her way back to the bedroom.

“My records indicate that Ms. Potts has accurate information,” came the voice of a decidedly smug-sounding AI.

“Hey, you heard the boss woman,” Tony replied sharply. “Everyone in this house is expected to go to sleep. That includes you, FRI. So zip it and call it a night.”

“Of course, boss,” she chirped, her tone laced with a level of snark that was the clear signature of her creator. Tony didn’t bother to respond as he crawled into bed with his wife. The women in his life might be the cause of the majority of his grey hairs, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not already have a rough outline for a part 3 in my mind. We'll see if I ever get around to writing it out.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm marking this as complete for now, but I'm still contemplating continuing it.


End file.
